This is what we learnt after a day with traffic officers on the M1

These are the things Highways England traffic officers do on a daily basis that you probably don't know about.

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We headed out with Mark (left) and Daniel (right) to see what they deal with on a daily basis.

Daniel Shaw, one of the traffic officers we went out with, has a working history in customer service.

He says: "We have three key roles, customer service is one of them.

"We just want to keep everyone moving and happy whilst keeping them and ourselves safe."

The other two key roles are delivery and unsurprisingly safety.

Out on the road, Daniel and his crew mate and fellow traffic officer Mark Endacott, explain that customer satisfaction alongside safety is always at the forefront of their mind.

Daniel shows us the radio set up in the front of the car and explains that anything that they see on the road is called in to the control room and dealt with in the safest and quickest way possible, in the hope they can keep the customer moving.

Highways England also has a dedicated social media team which Daniel explains is used to pre-warn customers - yes drivers are always referred to as 'customers' by the officers - of any issues on the roads so they can avoid the area and again, keep moving.

2. They can't break the speed limit

At the start of the shift, the team completed their vehicle checks - brakes, lights, equipment, etc - before heading out on patrol.

The patrol consists of driving the area of road that the team is covering on the day, checking for any debris that needs removing or any other problems.

Whilst on patrol, Mark is only allowed to drive at a maximum of 50mph, so both officers have a better chance of spotting any issues.

When debris is spotted, the crew were instructed by the control room that they were the team chosen to remove the debris.

This is when Mark is allowed to increase his speed to 70mph.

Breaking the speed limit is off limits.

But that is the absolute maximum.

Daniel says: "We are not an emergency response vehicle so we are not allowed to break the speed limit."

3. Debris is dangerous for more than one reason

On the southbound carriageway of the M1 in between the inside and middle lanes, there was a rather large lorry strap, which Daniel and Mark were instructed to remove.

Daniel says: "People swerve to avoid the debris and avoid damage to their car, but don't consider how dangerous swerving can be."

The debris itself can cause issues, as well as damage to cars, but drivers trying to avoid the debris could also be potentially fatal.

Daniel and Mark have to get rid of the lorry strap as quickly as possible, so they loop back round to where it is by using the 'authorised only' road at Leicester Forest East services that links the two sides of the road and means they don't have to go to a junction to travel on the northbound carriageway.

(I was completely amazed that this road even exists, but apparently most people know this).

The car is equipped with a lot of kit to help the officers deal with anything they come across.

Once back towards the debris, Mark and Daniel put in place a rolling stop, as this should prevent a big traffic build up.

The flashing lights are enabled, a digital message on the back window says 'do not pass' and Mark slows down gradually.

When the vehicle comes to a stop, Mark as the driver stands at the back of the vehicle, gives the stop signal and encourages people not to pass, whilst Daniel removes the debris.

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The next public interaction was with a man who had broken down and was waiting for his recovery to turn up.

He was worried that he'd over stay the service station car park limit of two hours.

On both occasions, Daniel was friendly, polite and as helpful as he could be. It seemed as though nothing was too much trouble.

Daniel explained and apologised to the man whose tyre needed changing and advised the other gentleman to inform hotel staff at the services about his situation as they could make sure his registration number was known so he wouldn't be charged.

Both members of the public seemed satisfied with their interaction with Daniel, even the man who needed his tyre changing understood why the officers couldn't change it for him.

The officers do get some slightly weirder requests than we saw on this day though.

Daniel recalls a time when they were approached and asked if they were on the M6, when they were in fact at exactly the same place - Leicester Forest East services, on the M1.